Pagan Holidays: Dates, Festivals, and Seasonal Celebrations

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What is a pagan holiday? It depends on who you ask as Paganism isn’t a single religion and there are many different paths within modern paganism. Today, many pagans follow the Wheel of the Year, a seasonal calendar featuring eight Sabbats tied to solar festivals and cross-quarter days. These include well-known holidays such as Beltane, Samhain, and Yule. But the Wheel isn’t the only pagan calendar in use. Others are reviving or reconstructing older systems based on the traditions of Hellenism, Heathenry and Ásatrú, Kemeticism, and more.

What makes providing accurate calendars tricky for modern practitioners is that ancient cultures marked time very differently than we do today. Many tied their holidays to lunar cycles or astronomical events, such as the rising of Sirius.

Also, while not considered holidays, many modern pagans and witches also observe Esbats. These rituals occur at the Full Moon or New Moon. These happen monthly and are more focused on personal magic and reflection than seasonal cycles. If this interests you, learn more about the moon phases in witchcraft.

In the sections that follow, you’ll find the major holidays from some of the most popular pagan practices, including Celtic, Norse and Ásatrú / Heathen, Hellenic (Greek), Roman, Egyptian (Kemetic), and modern Wiccan and neopagan practices. Here is our complete pagan holiday calendar for 2026, or, if you prefer one month at a time, a pagan calendar for January 2026.

Modern Pagan Holidays: The Wheel of the Year

If you’ve searched for pagan holidays before, you’ve probably seen the Wheel of the Year. Gerald Gardener (the founder of modern Wicca) and Ross Nichols (the founder of OBOD) co-created the modern Wheel. Other figures, such as Aiden Kelly added to it later.

To create the Wheel, Gardener and Nichols combined the four major Celtic Fire Festivals with the equinoxes and solstices. The resulting seasonal calendar, marks the major solar events of the year and the midpoints between them. It should be noted that the ancient Celts used a lunar-based calendar (the Coligny calendar). This means their fire festivals didn’t fall neatly on today’s fixed dates.

Many modern Druids follow the Wheel of the Year, drawing inspiration from both historical Celtic fire festivals and the modern calendar. While only four of the Sabbats (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh) have roots in ancient Celtic tradition, Druidry today honors all eight as part of a nature-based spiritual cycle.

Druids also refer to the solstices and equinoxes using poetic names from Welsh tradition: Alban Arthan (Winter Solstice), Alban Eilir (Spring Equinox), Alban Hefin (Summer Solstice), and Alban Elfed (Autumn Equinox).

Wheel of the Year Holidays:

Samhain (Oct 31): The third harvest festival. Samhain honors ancestors and the thinning veil between worlds. Many view it as the witch’s New Year and a powerful time for divination.
Yule (Winter Solstice): The celebration of the rebirth of the sun on the longest night of the year. It symbolizes hope, renewal, and the return of light after darkness.
Imbolc (Feb 1–2): A festival of purification, inspiration, and the first stirrings of spring.
Ostara (Spring Equinox): A pagan celebration of fertility, balance, and new beginnings.
Beltane (May 1): A fire festival celebrating passion, fertility, sensuality, and the sacred union of masculine and feminine energies.
Litha (Summer Solstice): The height of the sun’s power. It honors abundance, vitality, and the fullness of life, as well as a turning point toward the darker half of the year.
Lughnasadh (Aug 1): The first of three harvest festivals. This one honors the god Lugh, skilled in all arts. It celebrates craftsmanship, sacrifice, and the abundance of grain and labor.
Mabon (Fall Equinox): A modern name for the second harvest festival and a time of balance, gratitude, and preparation for the descent into winter.

Want a full deep dive into each Sabbat’s history, symbols, and rituals? Check out my Wheel of the Year guide.

The Sabbats and the Wheel of the Year Guide

Get Our Sabbat Guide Here

Norse Pagan Holidays in Heathenry and Ásatrú

The pre-Christian Germanic peoples marked the year with seasonal festivals, ritual offerings, and sacred gatherings. These Norse pagan traditions varied across regions like Scandinavia, Iceland, and Anglo-Saxon England, but many centered around the gods (including Odin, Freyja, Thor, and Frigg), the ancestors, the land spirits, and the changing seasons.

Today, those who practice Heathenry and Ásatrú are reviving these ancient holidays. While there’s no single unified calendar, many Norse pagan paths follow a seasonal cycle of feasts, blóts (sacrificial rites), and communal observances. There were three great blóts of the year: Vetrnætr, Sigurblót, and Jòl.

Major Norse Holidays

Yule / Jól (Dec 20–Jan 1): A midwinter festival honoring Odin, the Wild Hunt, and ancestral spirits. Yule traditions include feasting, sumbel (ritual toasting), gift-giving, and lighting fires to welcome the reborn sun. Regarding the date, some modern Heathens celebrate Jòl on the first full moon after the first new moon after the winter solstice. If you’d like to work with it in a modern context, here’s our guide to the 12 days of Yule.
Thorrablót (January): This midwinter feast likely honored Thor, the winter spirit of Thorri, and other protective deities. It celebrates endurance, strength, and community during the darkest part of the year.
Dísablót / Disting (Late February–mid March): A 9-day celebration and offering to the dísir, the female ancestral spirits. It is associated with fertility, protection, and fate.
Sigurblót (First Full Moon after Spring Equinox): This great blót marks the beginning of Summer half of the Norse year. It celebrated new life, victory, and the sun’s return with offerings to Odin and Tyr.
Walpurgisnacht (April 30–May 1): A liminal night marking the transition from winter to summer. It is sometimes called Witch’s Night and is associated with spirits, witches, and protection magic.
Midsummer / Sólstice Blót (June 21): While there isn’t record of the Norse celebrating midsummer as a holiday, midsummer bonfires and sun rituals were common. Modern practitioners honor sun goddess Sól and other deities on this day.
Freyfaxi (August 1): A major harvest festival, honoring the god Freyr and the connection between land, labor, and prosperity. It was named after Freyr’s mythical horse and celebrates strength, skill, and gratitude.
Vetrnætr “Winter Nights” (Full Moon in October): This pagan holiday once one of the great blóts of the year (alongside Sigurblót, and Jòl) and lasted up to 3 days. It considered the beginning of winter, the Norse New Year, and is closely tied to the dead, the dísir, and ancestral worship. A time for protective rituals and honoring those who came before.
Álfablót (Late October–November): This is a private, household-based ritual offering to the álfar, the land spirits or ancestral elves. Traditionally closed to outsiders, this rite was conducted by the lady of the house.

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Hellenic and Ancient Greek Holidays

Today, modern Hellenic polytheists and Hellenists are reviving these ancient holidays, reconstructing rituals from texts, inscriptions, and archaeological evidence. Some practitioners celebrate based on the ancient Attic calendar, while others align festivals with solar dates or lunar cycles in their local region.

In Ancient Greece, festivals varied widely from city to city (what Athens celebrated, Sparta might not have), and they followed a lunisolar calendar, meaning a festival could fall on different modern dates each year.

Major Ancient Greek Holidays

Lenaia (Gamelion, January): A winter festival of Dionysus, the Lenaia featured dramatic performances, processions, and rituals tied to wine, fertility, and ecstatic celebration.
Theogamia / Gamelia (Gamelion, January): This winter festival celebrating the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera, symbolizing divine union and balance.
Lesser Mysteries (Anthesterion, February): Held several months before the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Lesser Mysteries were preparatory rites for initiates entering the deeper mysteries of Demeter and Persephone.
Anthesteria (Anthesterion, February-March): This three-day festival of Dionysus, marking the opening of the new wine and the arrival of spring. It honored both life and death with feasting and wine-drinking
Elaphebolia (Elaphebolion, March): Festival honoring the goddess Artemis. People left offerings of cakes shaped like stags to honor her.
Thargelia (Thargelion, May): This holiday celebrated the birthday of the twins Apollo and Artemis their birthdays with offerings and purification rituals.
Skira (Skirophorion, June): A multi-day festival honoring Athena, Poseidon, and Demeter, connected to fertility, agriculture, and the shifting balance of gender roles. It often included ritualized role reversals and periods of sacred separation.
Aphrodisia (Hekatombaion, July/August): This holiday celebrated Aphrodite and civic purification. Altars were washed, and rituals invoked harmony, love, and prosperity.
Panathenaia (Hekatombaion, August): A grand Athenian festival celebrating Athena, the city’s patron goddess. Events included athletic competitions, poetry, music, and a massive procession to the Acropolis. It honored wisdom, civilization, and cultural achievement.
Boedromia (Boedromion, September): This holiday was dedicated to Apollo and associated with divine intervention, strategy, and salvation.
Eleusinian Mysteries (Boedromion, September–October): The most sacred initiation rites in ancient Greece, held in honor of Demeter and Persephone. These highly secretive, multi-day ceremonies symbolized the cycle of death and rebirth and promised initiates blessings in this life and the next.
Thesmophoria (Pyanepsion, October): This women-only fertility festival dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, tied to the sowing of grain and the Eleusinian agricultural mysteries. It focused on female community, renewal, and fertility.
Pyanopsia (Pyanepsion, October): An festival for Apollo tied to Theseus’ return from Crete. Celebrants boiled beans in a communal pot and decorated olive branches to bring prosperity. Often celebrated as a harvest festival.
Khalkeia (Pyanepsion, October–November): ThisfFestival of Athena and Hephaestus focused on craftsmanship and labor.
Poseidea (Poseideon, December): This holiday was dedicated to Poseidon and those celebrating it sought his favor for calm seas and fertile earth.

The following rites were celebrated and performed each month in Ancient Greece.

Hekate’s Deipnon (Monthly, Dark Moon): A ritual held the night before the New Moon at the end of the lunar month. People left offerings at crossroads and thresholds to Hekate, goddess of magic and protection.
Noumenia (Monthly, New Moon): The first day of the lunar month. A household rite that provided offerings to Hestia, Apollo, Selene, Zeus, and other deities. It also included prayers for blessings in the month ahead, and the rekindling of the hearth.
Agathos Daimon (Monthly, 2nd Day of Lunar Month): This monthly offering honors the Agathos Daimon, a benevolent household spirit or protective deity associated with good fortune and the well-being of the home.
Tritomênis (Monthly, 3rd day of Lunar Month): A holiday which honors Athena. It was a day for invoking wisdom, strategy, justice, and her divine insight.
Hermou Tetras (Monthly, 4th day of Lunar Month): This celebration honors Hermes, the god of communication, travel, commerce, and boundaries.
Triakas / Ene Kai Nea (Monthly, 30th day of Lunar Month): This rite honoring Demeter and Hekate marks the end of the lunar month and transition to the next. Some ancient Greek observances began at sundown, so Hekate’s Deipnon was usually observed at the start of Triakas.

Roman Pagan Holidays

Modern Roman polytheists, Religio Romana practitioners, and eclectic pagans honor ancient Roman festivals as a way to reconnect with Roman deities like Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Mars, and Vesta. The original public holidays honored gods, ancestors, the cycles of nature, and Rome itself. Many of these holiday celebrations influenced the way we celebrate modern holidays, even many non-pagan ones today.

Also, take note that because the Roman calendar shifted over time (from lunar to solar, then reformed under Julius Caesar), exact dates can vary depending on the era.

Major Roman Holidays

Compitalia (Early January): A neighborhood festival honoring the Lares Compitales, protective spirits of the crossroads and household.
Carmentalia (January 11 and 15): A women’s festival in honor of Carmenta, goddess of childbirth and prophecy. Celebrated with offerings and prayers for mothers, infants, and the power of fate.
Sementivae (Late January – Early February): An agricultural festival honoring Ceres and Tellus, focused on sowing seeds and blessing the fields. A Roman equivalent to spring planting festivals like Imbolc, tied to the fertility of the earth.
Parentalia and Feralia (February 13–21): A nine-day ancestor festival culminating in Feralia, a public day of mourning and honoring the dead. Families visited tombs and made offerings of food and wine to the departed.
Lupercalia (February 15): A wild pre-spring fertility rite dedicated to Faunus. Priests ran through the streets with goat-hide thongs to bless and purify citizens. Associated with love, sexuality, and the rebirth of life.
Matronalia (March 1): A celebration of Juno Lucina, goddess of motherhood and childbirth. Husbands gave gifts to wives, and women prayed for fertility, safe delivery, and strong families.
Floralia (April 28 – May 3): A riotous spring festival in honor of Flora, goddess of flowers and renewal. Citizens wore bright clothing, adorned the city with blossoms, and attended theatrical and erotic performances.
Lemuria (May 9, 11, 13): A dark festival of spirit appeasement. Heads of households tossed black beans and performed midnight rituals to drive away angry or restless dead from the home.
Vestalia (June 7–15): A sacred festival for Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The inner sanctum of her temple was opened to women, and offerings of bread were made for domestic harmony and protection.
Consulaia (August 21): Celebrated Consus, protector of stored grain. Marked with feasting, horse races, and agricultural rites in honor of the harvest.
Opiconsivia (August 25): Honored Ops, goddess of abundance and agricultural labor. Offerings were made for continued prosperity and the fruits of the harvest.
October Horse (October): A rare and solemn sacrifice of a horse to Mars, tied to fertility and military protection. One of Rome’s oldest and most mysterious rites.
Saturnalia (December 17–23): TA festival of reversal and revelry in honor of Saturn, god of time and agriculture. Slaves dined as equals, gifts were exchanged, and rules were joyfully turned upside down. Many Christmas traditions trace back to Saturnalia.

Kemetic and Ancient Egyptian Holidays

The ancient Egyptian religion was deeply tied to the cycles of nature. Especially the flooding of the Nile, the rising of stars like Sirius, and the movement of the sun and moon.

They divided their year into three seasons (Akhet, Peret, and Shemu), each with four months of 30 days. They also added 5 extra days at the end of the year to align their calendar with the 365-day solar year. (These five days were important as they marked the birthdays of the Egyptian gods Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.)

Modern Kemetic pagans adapt the ancient holidays to the Gregorian calendar by using astronomical timing or fixed solar dates for consistency.

Major Egyptian Holidays:

Wep-Ronpet (I Akhet, Late July–Early August): The rising of Sirius (Sopdet) and the beginning of the Nile’s flooding marked the Egyptian New Year or Opening of the Year. A time of renewal, honoring Ra, Osiris, Isis, and Anubis, and marking the start of the agricultural cycle.
Feast of Thoth (I Akhet 1, Late July): Celebrated on New Year’s Day. This holiday honored Thoth, the god of wisdom, magic, writing, and time.
The Wag Festival (I Akhet, Early August): A festival of ancestral remembrance, where people made offerings for the dead and floated miniature boats on the Nile or canals in their honor.
Opet Festival (II Akhet, Late August–September): A grand celebration of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, where statues of the gods were carried from Karnak to Luxor. Celebrated over several days with music, feasting, and offerings.
Feast of Hathor (III Akhet, October): Celebrated in Dendera and other Hathor temples, honoring Hathor, goddess of love, joy, music, and the afterlife. Included dance, music, and communion with the goddess.
Khoiak Festival (IV Akhet, Late November–December): A multi-day festival for Osiris, involving ritual mourning, sacred drama, and symbolic burial rites, followed by planting of Osiris beds. It was one of the most important festivals of the Egyptian religious calendar.
Feast of Sekhmet (I Peret, Early January): Celebrated the appeasement of Sekhmet, often involving beer dyed red to mimic blood. Linked to myths of her rage and pacification, and invoked protection and healing for the coming season.
Feast of Bastet (II Peret, Late January–February): Celebrated in Bubastis, this joyous festival honored Bastet, goddess of protection, fertility, and music. Included processions, ecstatic celebration, and household offerings.
Festival of Victory (II Peret, February): Celebrated the enthronement of Horus (Heru) as king of Egypt after the defeat of Set. This festival was held at his temple in Edfu and affirmed the divine right of kingship and the restoration of cosmic order (Ma’at). Offerings to Horus and reenactments of his victory were part of the rites.
Beautiful Feast of the Valley (III Peret, March–April): A funerary festival honoring the dead Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. It involving processions across the Nile and visits to family tombs.
Feast of Min (III Shemu, May–June): A fertility festival honoring Min, god of virility and the harvest. Featured public rituals, erect statues, and offerings for abundant crops and healthy reproduction.
The Epagomenal Days (End of IV Shemu, July 14–18): Five days outside the regular calendar, honoring the births of the major gods each on a different day: Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.

Slavic Pagan Holidays

Slavic paganism, practiced across Eastern Europe prior to Christianization, was deeply tied to seasonal cycles, agricultural life, and local deities like Perun, Veles, Mokosh, Jarilo, and Morana.

Though exact calendars varied between regions and tribes, many modern Rodnovery practitioners and Slavic pagans have reconstructed a core ritual year based on surviving folklore, archaeological evidence, and oral tradition.

Major Slavic Pagan Holidays:

Koliada (December 21–23, Winter Solstice): A winter sun rebirth festival, celebrating the return of light and honoring the sun god Dazhbog. Traditional rituals included fire, singing, costumes, and invoking blessings for the coming year. Some groups also honor Perun and Veles as battling winter and death forces.
Vesna (March 20–22, Spring Equinox): A celebration of rebirth and awakening at the Spring Equinox. It honors Lada, goddess of love and spring. Effigies of the goddess Morana who rules winter and death are ritually burned to mark the end of the cold season and welcome the warmth.
Yarilo’s Day (April–May): A fertility and planting festival honoring Jarilo, the youthful god of vegetation, passion, and spring growth. Includes rituals for love, passion, and the awakening of the land.
Kupala Night (June 20–24, Summer Solstice): One of the most sacred Slavic pagan festivals. Honoring Kupala, the goddess or spirit of water and Yarilo. Their Summer Solstice holiday celebrations feature bonfires, water rituals, flower crowns, and jumping over flames. It’s a liminal night when spirits roam.
Perun’s Day (July 20): A midsummer festival for Perun, the thunder god and protector of warriors. Celebrated with bonfires, feasts, and honoring of masculine power and fire energy.
Dozhinki (August–September): A celebration of abundance, grain, and fertility, honoring the earth mother Mokosh, the creator god Rod, and household spirits.
Dziady (October–November): A festival of the ancestors, held in autumn. Ritual meals, candle lighting, and visits to burial grounds were made to commune with the spirits of the dead.